Trapped
For us feeling trapped in our own head or completely alone in a room full of love is a very common feeling. Sometimes we keep ourselves trapped because it is easier to do so then to face the world. As this may seem like a bad thing it keep us clean, able to have self development, focus on ourselves and as selfish as that may seem it is the only time we take for ourselves to develop our motivation we need to carry on and stay alive and most importantly somewhat happy. One important way to solve feeling trapped is to realise that the world responds to you. Your outlook on life will determine the way you see the world and the only way to change this is to change your outlook. If you are reading this and you don't suffer from depression and therefore don't understand the feeling of being trapped it's like being trapped in an elevator with no help button, in a falling airplane, in a house on fire, it is that feeling in your mind and body.
Shoot 1.
Single images- Alex Stoddard and Brian Oldham.
The first two images are taken by surrealism artist, Alex Stoddard. The last image is by another surrealist artist, Brian Oldham. The type of images both Stoddard and Oldham take mix many styles to create the unnatural worlds, making them seem as realistic as possible. They mix portraiture into a natural environment, which both play a huge part in the image. I think if the portraits were taken within a studio with a plain white background they wouldn't be the same or have the natural realistic, fantasy feeling that their images give. The colours that they use are dark, natural colours of which keep the images looking realistic. They also make a large use of shadows to help create depth to the 3D worlds. The shapes follow the natural land, even where the portraits are, they still follow the land so they merge well. However, they do vary depending on image (like the second image). The image has a strong bold shape in the middle which is a high contrast to the shapes on natural land, however, it is a stereotypical shape 'box.' There are no synthetic textures in the images, they are all natural ones, from soil, trees and the world around us, again this make the images seem more realistic.
The lighting is meant to seem like natural lighting, however is probably isn't. The use of artificial lighting isn't used to light up the image but to add and deepen the shadow. This makes the images dark and not the happiest. The space in the work is completely filled with the natural world that surrounds us.However, your eye is still focused on the main subject which is prominent in the middle and rather large. Stoddards work is created with camera, any smoke needed is added in the set, he puts himself into difficult positions, with only a slight element of post processing. Whereas, Oldham takes many pictures and digitally edits them in photoshop and manipulates them to look Un edited. I think that the collections are made for personal gallery use as stand alone art that will advertise even themselves or commissioned.
In my opinion, I think the images should be displayed very large in high definition, high quality and high gloss, this helps people to delve into the worlds in the most realistic way possible. I also think the images could be displayed large on textured paper, like cartridge paper, because this would reflect on the natural, wood like, images.
I think that the images suggest that we are not just trapped by people but by our surroundings and the world around us. The worlds lands are endless, but yet you can feel so trapped in a tiny part of the world. I think that the images show there is so much weight of the world that we try to handle but yet it still pushes us down or drowns us. If you look at the first image it shows how the world around us is the root to everything. The subject is curled up into the fetul position, as if the hole is the womb and the person is in the most comfortable position going back to birth. He/she also looks like they are perfectly slotted in like it's their. This means the world is not only our home but it is where we are born and will mother us even till death.
These images are very relevant to the time and the pressure young adults have as we have to conform to; social media, political, financial and economic issues.
The lighting is meant to seem like natural lighting, however is probably isn't. The use of artificial lighting isn't used to light up the image but to add and deepen the shadow. This makes the images dark and not the happiest. The space in the work is completely filled with the natural world that surrounds us.However, your eye is still focused on the main subject which is prominent in the middle and rather large. Stoddards work is created with camera, any smoke needed is added in the set, he puts himself into difficult positions, with only a slight element of post processing. Whereas, Oldham takes many pictures and digitally edits them in photoshop and manipulates them to look Un edited. I think that the collections are made for personal gallery use as stand alone art that will advertise even themselves or commissioned.
In my opinion, I think the images should be displayed very large in high definition, high quality and high gloss, this helps people to delve into the worlds in the most realistic way possible. I also think the images could be displayed large on textured paper, like cartridge paper, because this would reflect on the natural, wood like, images.
I think that the images suggest that we are not just trapped by people but by our surroundings and the world around us. The worlds lands are endless, but yet you can feel so trapped in a tiny part of the world. I think that the images show there is so much weight of the world that we try to handle but yet it still pushes us down or drowns us. If you look at the first image it shows how the world around us is the root to everything. The subject is curled up into the fetul position, as if the hole is the womb and the person is in the most comfortable position going back to birth. He/she also looks like they are perfectly slotted in like it's their. This means the world is not only our home but it is where we are born and will mother us even till death.
These images are very relevant to the time and the pressure young adults have as we have to conform to; social media, political, financial and economic issues.
Contact Sheets.
When doing these shoots the weather made them difficult to do, but I adapted them to my location and weather. I enjoyed to do this shoot because of it being controversial. I looked for a locations where it looked like the world was growing around me and that I was trapped within, a box or a hole in the ground or between a tree with no way of escaping. This was because I wanted to capture the genuine feeling of being trapped when suffering with depression.
Final images.
I love how these images turned out, I think they look realistic but also strong and give the message of being trapped within nature.
Development.
My idea for the development is your brain can feel it has a film over it that traps your genuine throughs. You can see all around but some type of fog covers you from seeing what really matters. Trapping you in your own thoughts and mind. I decided to use different materials to show this.
Extra development.
Sometimes we can feel trapped in the 'norm' of depression. This is the feeling of wanting to harm yourself in a way that others who suffer would. This is the idea behind this shoot. I wanted you to see the genuine darkness behind suffering with depression and the thoughts that go through our heads daily.